Motorcycle Speakers for Sport Bikes

[IPhillipBanks]

hey guys.....I've been thinking for sometime about trying to make this idea work. I want to try and find some speakers that will work for sportbikes. I've seen plenty of ones for harleys, cruisers etc. They wont look right on a sportbike, so I was wondering if anybody knows of any company's or website where they have such a product for us sportbike people. I want something that I could hook my i-pod up to and hear the music thru the speakers. I don't want helmet speakers so I was wondering if this is even possible for sportbikes. Any suggestions of where to find speakers or how to hook them up. Thanks Guys.

[Mojoe]

I am actually thinking of doing that with my project bike, but only for when I am stopped somewhere relaxing. plus I just want to "bling" the crap out of it so some tard on ebay will give me much more than the bike is worth. cig lighter, stereo, gps, blah blah blah.

anyway, for an i-pod you would need amplified speakers. and you would need them to run on 12 volt, or else you would have to use a power inverter, which is probably what I will do. you can get them pretty small and it will run a laptop and small 110 device. you could use a set of amplified compter speakers. just rip the guts out of a set and mount them somewhere. just remember though, you need to think of the weather.


But like I said.....I will only listen to music when I am stopped. aside from the sound sucking to beat crap, I sort of laugh with the big cruisers putting along with their tinny sounding music blasting away. never seen it on a sportbike.

[The CyberPoet]

We have someone on the board who uses a set of speakers that he installed into his instrument surround on his Kat. Since you're on a GSXR, I doubt you have the space there.

Here in town, there's a guy riding around on a TLR who has his speakers built into his solo-cowl (which he slotted to permit the sound to come out). Nice for parking lots, but at speeds over 50, it's useless because of the wind noise (generally the case for most motorcycle speaker-based solutions).

Personally, I have speakers installed in my helmet and jack that up to my iPod, which gives me clear tunes up to about triple-digits (after that, again, the wind noise is too much to overcome even with 106 dB speakers). See CyberPoet's "How to install Stereo Speakers into your helmet" for more details.

As for the speakers themselves, depending on their sensitivity, you probably will need some form of amplication. Although Mojoe would have you go 110 volts, you can find 12 volt solutions all over the market that will work readily, including some of the travel-speakers for the iPod (I have a set of Phillips flat-panel speakers that can use an A/C adaptor or a bunch of AAA batteries -- it wouldn't be difficult to adapt it to the bike's electrics, stepping the 14.2 nominal down to the 9 volts it's looking for).

Finally:
There are companies on the market that make flat-panel drivers. Rather than being actual speakers, these are just magnetics designed to shake an already existing item to turn it into a speaker (such as a pane of glass). You could utilize something like this to drive a fairing section, or a plexiglass panel set just inside the windsheild.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Mojoe]

Although Mojoe would have you go 110 volts, you can find 12 volt solutions all over the market that will work readily, including some of the travel-speakers for the iPod (I have a set of Phillips flat-panel speakers that can use an A/C adaptor or a bunch of AAA batteries -- it wouldn't be difficult to adapt it to the bike's electrics, stepping the 14.2 nominal down to the 9 volts it's looking for).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

na....12volt is even better. my experience with 12 volt speakers other than those needing a seperate amplifier is limited. I did not know you could get them amplified.

[DoubleD]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but with respect to the iPod, what are peeps doing with the actual unit itself? Do you keep it in a pocket or have a mount for it? I'm sure the Nanos are fine mounted but wondering if anyone's mounted the hard-drive based ones and if they experienced any issues with bumps and what-not?

[The CyberPoet]

12volt is even better. my experience with 12 volt speakers other than those needing a seperate amplifier is limited. I did not know you could get them amplified.

Many 3rd party computer speakers and most external iPod speakers are both examples of low-voltage speakers that have built-in amplifiers. There are also non-amplified versions out there, where the magnetic sensitivity is simply sufficiently high (although they are probably too quiet for most riding applications). There's even back-packs with amplified speakers like the Sonic iBoom (intended for school kids, but it would work for riding as well). A simple Google search for amplified ipod speakers will net you a world of options.

As an aside, you could also go with most car-amplifier+speaker solutions, if you can find a small enough package that still delivers the sound you want -- stepping a headphone out into a pre-amp line-in is a snap.

-------

CCnCoke, I rode with a 20Gb one for a couple years, usually in the inside jacket pocket, and the remote clipped to a belt-loop. The one time I tried to install it under the seat (so it had access to a charging point as I rode down to Maimi & back), the temps under the seat wreaked havoc on the battery life -- it lasts longer in the jacket without being plugged up to the charger, at least in Florida's summer weather.
During that whole 2 year period, I had zero issues with hard drive bumps/knocks. Remember, the unit only spins up for 20 seconds or so once every 15 minutes to reload the memory, so the threat factor is minimized.

Before that iPod, I used to use a Rio, and it fit readily into the 5th pocket of my jeans, as well as into the jacket.

Some point last year, I switched to one of the 1Gb iPod shuffles (RAM-based, no HD) for my riding -- after all, I don't look at the screen while riding anyway, and the battery life is a bit longer. The 1st Generation Shuffle is the size of a pack of wrigley's gum, and again, inside jacket pocket. I got the GF a 2nd Gen Shuffle as one of her XMas presents, and it's even tinier -- size of a matchbook (literally).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[DDMGraphix]

Time for some speakers... I have been also thinking of a setup and which is taking me into more thinking then I expected. After thinking of DC vs AC and setup I figured PC speakers are going to give me the quality I may be looking for. I drilled the wholes in the fairing on both sides of tripple tree and mounted the speakers.. the only issue was that after running all the wite I didn't enclose the speakers so the sound went everywhere. A standstill sound is great but after 40 MPH with a 1127 and Yosh exhaust I cant hear a thing. I will be enclsoing the speakers and adding porrts for bass. I will be setting scamatics as well so hopefully I will get the sound I want. the speakers are running from a mp3 player. Overall I give it a 7/10 without encloseure while still.. and 5/10 while riding.. I want bass and sound
I will keep this posted

[Wade-Kat600]

I'd also say you could probably put some 3-4" ones on each side of the tank surround on the fairings. As long as they are in front of you and you can get a little clearance you should be able to make decent sound.

[jgalar]

I'm kinda low tech. I use in the ear headphones. Blanks out the wind noise and adds tunes at the same time.

[ChadwickVM]

If you're kind of high tech, something that may be interesting would be finding small parabolic speakers and directing the sound toward where your head would be. You'd have to know how to do some hard mods to your bike tho.

[Alley_Kat]

I just took the easy way out.
I took the ear buds and taped them inside the earholes on the helmet and stick the player in my jacket front pocket..
Works great for me.

[reconstyle]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but with respect to the iPod, what are peeps doing with the actual unit itself? Do you keep it in a pocket or have a mount for it? I'm sure the Nanos are fine mounted but wondering if anyone's mounted the hard-drive based ones and if they experienced any issues with bumps and what-not?

Last time I checked or heard, wearing in-ear style headphones was illegal while operating a motor vehicle, you can only use over the ear headphones, which is why CP's helmet headphones are leagal.

I'm not 100% sure about that, but I'm pretty sure thats how it is...

Now, I have a friend here that rides a gix with his Ipod ALL the time, in PLAIN view. Most of the time he doesn't wear a jacket, and uses the iPod arm band, and it's white, so its CLEARLY visible, along with the white iPod earphones he uses as well. I rode with my nano on a long trip once, I just put it on the inside pocket of my jacket. I have no idea how the hard drive models will hold up...

[chriskat1100]

6.5 in round waterproof. I too have been thinking of a stereo for a sport bike.

http://www.head-units.com/shop/category.asp?catid=3

[chinto]

and not from the same bike, but made by the same guy

[The CyberPoet]

Chinto, how well do you have the speakers protected from the elements? Just curious...

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet